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Bad Twin
For the character, see The Man in Black. Bad Twin is a book in the Lost universe, released as a real life semi-canonical tie-in novel. It is available in hardcover and audiobook. Authorship is credited to the fictional Gary Troup; the actual ghostwriter was revealed to be Laurence Shames. Read More Hyperion Publishers tout the book as "a suspenseful novel that touches on many powerful themes, including the consequence of vengeance, the power of redemption, and where to turn when all seems lost." The book centers on Paul Artisan, a private investigator who suddenly finds himself hired by a high-profile member of the Widmore dynasty, Clifford Widmore, to search for his identical twin, Alexander. Alexander was always seen as the bad apple, the bad twin, but Artisan soon discovers there is more to the Widmore family than meets the eye. Publisher's summary "Sometimes evil has a familiar face..." Paul Artisan, P.I. is a new version of an old breed -- a righter of wrongs, someone driven to get to the bottom of things. Too bad his usual cases are of the boring malpractice and fraud variety. Until now. His new gig turns on the disappearance of one of a pair of twins, adult scions of a rich but tragedy-prone family. The missing twin -- a charismatic poster-boy for irresponsibility -- has spent his life daring people to hate him, punishing himself endlessly for his screw-ups and misdeeds. The other twin -- Artisan's client -- is dutiful and resentful in equal measure, bewildered that his "other half" could have turned out so badly, and wracked by guilt at his inability to reform him. He has a more practical reason, as well, for wanting his brother found: their crazy father, in failing health and with guilty secrets of his own, will not divide the family fortune until both siblings are accounted for. But it isn't just a fortune that's at stake here. Truth itself is up for grabs, as the detective's discoveries seem to challenge everything we think we know about identity, and human nature, and family. As Artisan journeys across the globe to track down the bad twin, he seems to have moved into a mirror-world where friends and enemies have a way of looking very much alike. The P.I. may have his long-awaited chance to put his courage and ideals to the test, but if he doesn't get to the bottom of this case soon, it could very well cost him his life. "Troup's long-awaited Bad Twin is a suspenseful novel that touches on many powerful themes, including the consequence of vengeance, the power of redemption, and where to turn when all seems lost." Detailed synopsis Paul Artisan is a small-time NYC private investigator who is not confident if he has the talent and dedication to expand his professional aspirations beyond their current scope. He gets a surprise visit one day from a well-dressed and aloof man he learns is Clifford Widmore, one of the heirs of the wealthy and influential Widmore dynasty. His twin brother (Alexander, nicknamed "Zander") has gone missing, and Cliff wishes to hire Paul to find him. Zander is known for his passionate, maverick style, which at times brings him in contact with shady dealings, and everyone who knew him seems to believe this is what got him in trouble. Though they are identical twins, they are as different as night and day, with Clifford known as the more straight-laced, responsible, and cold one. He is also the CEO of Widmore Corp., which his father, Arthur--an eccentric and opinionated (but benevolent) elderly man--heads. With such a high-profile potential client on the line, Paul begins to doubt himself and goes to his older best friend and mentor, Manny Weissman, for advice. Manny is a philosophical intellectual, who frequently quotes literature and advises through metaphorical stories, while taking walks with Paul and Argos (the dog that the two of them "share"). Paul chases leads about Zander all over the world, from Cape Cod, to Key West, to Cuba, to Luna Valley (Cal.), to the coast of Australia. Along the way, he meets colorful characters, such as Zander's pot-smoking friend "Moth", a yoga instructor Zander was once involved with named Sky, a crusty boat captain named "Crunch", Clifford's pill-popping wife Shannon (who also apparently loved Zander), and Elio, the founder of a cult-like nudist colony called the Helios Foundation. Many give Paul hints on where to chase Zander's trail next, but some are either killed or threatened with death along the way. While flying to Australia via Oceanic Airlines, he sits next to a woman named "Pru" (short for Prudence), and they instantly hit it off. Paul and Pru end up having a fling once they get to the hotel, but upon wakening, Paul sees that she has a gun in her purse, and confronts her with her lies. Pru then admits that she is also a P.I. for a large firm called Intercontinental, and that she was once hired to tail Vivian Widmore, the nymphomaniac, ambitious younger wife of the family patriarch (she had even tried to seduce Paul on their first meeting). Vivian was suspected of having an affair with a man nicknamed "Mr. Thursday". Pru relates that she was then hired to follow Paul and make sure he didn't come too close to finding Zander. Paul then realizes he was set up by Clifford for failure, and hired simply because they had profiled him as someone who didn't have the gumption and commitment to succeed in his mission. This angers and focuses Paul on the task of proving himself. He and Pru agree to work together to find out the truth. They follow Zander's trail to Lizard Island in the Great Barrier Reef, where they learn Zander was pursuing a start-up business in black pearl farming when he was last heard from. They masquerade as a honeymooning couple looking for real estate, and find Zander himself under the alias "Cameron Purdue". When they go out on his boat together, all three barely escape being killed by assassins. Paul and Pru then reveal themselves to Zander, and tell him his life is in danger. They convince Zander to fly back to NYC with them. When they arrive back in the States, they learn Clifford has been recently killed during a 'robbery'. Zander is reunited with his aging father, and they go to Clifford's funeral. At the funeral, a car comes out of nowhere and starts shooting everyone. Paul and Pru return fire and kill the shooter, who turns out to be Vivian's first husband, a mafia boss named Monty Alban. He was Mr. Thursday, the man Pru was sent to uncover. He and Vivian had planned to kill off the Widmores one by one to get at their money. It turns out that Zander was not such a "bad twin" after all, just misunderstood. Manny suspected the elder Widmore had been planning to leave all his money to him (as the eldest born twin, by a matter of minutes), according to Scottish tradition. Manny was wrong, and the inheritance was to be split with the exception of a small portion going to Vivian. However, Zander had planned to invest his money in the pearl farm with the profits going to the indigenous Australians who ran it and donate the rest of his inheritance to a Cuban medical relief aid. By liquidating his stock in the family company, Zander would have left the Widmore family with not enough control of their company, and Cliff would have lost his position as CEO. This had made him a target for his Cliff. In the end, Vivian goes to jail for her plotting, and Paul and Pru end up together. Meta-fictional characters These significant characters are so far only known to exist within the fiction of the book (see crossovers section for very minor characters that reference Lost). They may be based on other Lost-related characters, or may be completely fictional constructs. Locations Crossovers from Lost This book mentions several corporations and people that are mentioned on the television show and/or The Lost Experience. Corporations/organizations Characters Other crossovers * Numerology: ** Zander was born on 8/15, Cliff on 8/16, 23 minutes apart ** The Widmore gate code is #81516 ** THF is on floor 42 of the Widmore building ** Cliff begins to search for Zander 4 months after he disappears, which according to Cliff was on April 15th (4/15) * Shared literary references: ** Gilgamesh ** Lord of the Flies ** The Odyssey ** The Turn of the Screw ** The Third Policeman ** Philosopher John Locke * There is a benevolent druggie character named “Moth” (also title of S1E07, about another relatively benevolent druggie–Charlie) * The boat Moth was working on is named Escape Hatch * The Bibical figures of Jacob and Esau are mentioned. * A sub-plot deals with Pearl farming. * When the Cuban guy first meets Paul, the first thing he asks is: "You're him?" * The city of Luna is rumored to have electromagnetic healing properties * Manny: “Not all who wander are lost” (quote of J.R.R. Tolkien, also was used in television promotion campaign for the LOST series) * Referring to Peconiquot Island: * A conversation on the plane back: * In the pilot of JJ Abram's new series 'Fringe' there is a 'bad twin'. It would be unfair to say any more as it maybe construed as a spoiler for that series. In Lost Gary Troup delivered the manuscript of Bad Twin to Hyperion Publishing just before his fateful trip on Oceanic Flight 815. The author survived the crash, but was the first person to die on the Island when he was sucked into the still-running jet engine, causing it to explode. A [[Bad Twin manuscript|manuscript of Bad Twin]] was found and read by Hurley (in ). The manuscript was later acquired by Sawyer. When Sawyer tried to postpone Jack's demand for the stolen guns ("Cool your damn jets and walk around the coconut trees; I've got, like, 10 pages left"), Jack burned the pages that would have revealed the ending ( ). Jack had no way of knowing whether the manuscript had been published or whether its author had been killed. Apparent anachronism The note from the editors indicated that the author was lost when Oceanic Flight 815 crashed in September 2004. However, page 204 of the book details the main character learning of the cessation of Scottish feudalism on 28 November 2004 (the factual, real-world date). This is however only an apparent anachronism, since the "appointed day" for the end of feudalism had been set well in advance, in 2002 (see page 2 of linked PDF). Connections to The Lost Experience : See an interview on the author's page, and see also the Hanso Foundation advertisement and press releases related to Bad Twin :: For a brief chronicle of the "happenings so far" in the game, see Timeline - The Lost Experience' :: ''For Lost Experience clues detailed in-depth, see the Lost Experience clues Thehansofoundation.org website Thehansofoundation.org updated its site with an entry dated Fri 12/05/06 (May 12, 2006) entitled: "Don't Believe Bad Twin". The entry is linked to a press release, whose contents are below: A photocopied image with an identical message appears on letyourcompassguideyou.com. A letter later linked during the Lost Experience also implied that the Hanso Foundation were planning to sue Hyperion books for printing the novel. The letter can be viewed here. Coded correspondence During the DJ Dan live broadcasts, Malik phoned in, leaving a coded message for protagonist Rachel Blake. He quoted a series of numbers, which turned out to be page numbers from the Bad Twin novel. For each number, the first letter on the page replaced the digits, creating the message "I know where he is, I can set it up!" ''Lost'' producers' commentary There is some apparent friction between the Lost writers/producers and Shames (either due to inconsistent inclusion of the plot as spin-off canon or writing style), as evidenced by comments made to [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117945504.html?categoryId=14&cs=1 Variety]: Additionally, the writers make occasional cracks about the novel, such as in this from the 10/30/06 podcast: Finally, Carlton Cuse stated that the novel "had not met their bar" at the Lost panel during the Promax|BDA 2007 conference. http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN1441227620070614 Audio from panel Translations *Elsa Frogner translated this book to Norwegian. *The Norwegian title is "Ond Tvilling". *It is released on Dinamo forlag. *The ISBN is 82-8071-148-1. See also * Appearances of literary works External links * This book available at Amazon.com * This book available at Play.com * Bad Twin on the Hyperion Website. * Bad Twin on the Gary Troup Website. * product details page - An excerpt from the audiobook version can be found at the www.Soundsgood.com Bad Twin *Hollywood Reporter - Carlton Cuse comments about Bad Twin: "It led to a discussion of several missteps, including the tie-in novel "Bad Twin" that Cuse said didn't meet their bar..." de:Bad Twin es:Bad Twin fr:Bad Twin it:Bad Twin pt:Bad Twin ru:Зловещий близнец Category:Cultural references Category:Novels Category:The Lost Experience Category:Expanded Universe Category:Books Category:Items Category:Recurring Themes